Lacey Green
LACEY GREEN: Military airstrip
Military user: RAF Bomber Command for communications flights
Location: Stocken Farm, Lacey Green, about 2nm SW of Princes Risborough
Period of operation: 1944 to 45? Better info perhaps, states from the 6th June 1944 to 1946
NOTES: Used by Bomber Command by light aircraft serving Bomber Command HQ.
In July 2017, after adding this listing, I decided to see if any other information is available, and, to my delight came across a detailed account by Douglas Tilbury. He even gives the exact time when work commenced on the site, 18.00 hrs 3rd June 1944, one hour after the farmer was told that the MoD were commandeering part of his farm. As Douglas points out, D-Day was on the 6th June, so heavy handed methods were justified as was the need for secrecy.
The original area was 45 acres and Douglas tells us that none other than Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris, C-in-C of Bomber Command, had a Stinson here for his personal use which he also flew. I suspect that this was a Stinson AT-19 Reliant? The Bomber Command HQ was of course fairly close by in Walter's Ash, about a mile or so to the SSE.
In 1945 it appears that the site was increased to 60 acres and a Blister hangar erected. During its period of operation it appears that several aircraft were based here: Two Taylorcraft Austers, one Percival Proctor, one de Havilland DH82 Tiger Moth (probably a DH82A?), one Miles M38 Messenger and a de Havilland DH87B Hornet Moth. Plus, perhaps surprisingly, a Miles M28 Mercury which has a definite resemblance to the later Messenger, except that it had a retractable main undercarriage.
He tells us that all these aircraft were once privately owned, and had been commandeered at the outbreak of war. This is definitely not the case, although it certainly applies to the DH87B Hornet Moth and the Miles M28 Mercury.
The Tiger Moth was designed to be an RAF trainer and the Taylorcaft Auster was also a military design, as was the Miles Messenger and Percival Proctor.
However, what really intrigues me is a colour photograph of the de Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth T6818, which, although it is not captioned has a quality which suggests it was taken in more recent years. This Tiger Moth has been based at the Shuttleworth Collection for many years. But, did it once fly in here?
Terry Clark
This comment was written on: 2018-01-10 15:16:42Before I became an ATCO, I was a member of the Royal Observer Corps based at RAF High Wycombe (Naphill). The entrance to the site where we worked had two short lengths of road either side of it which had 'No Entry' signs at both ends. On enquiring why this was, we were told this was because it was reserved for parking light liaison aircraft which would land/takeoff on the straight bit of road (New Road) just outside the main gate, which is just east of where google maps say 'Air Command RAF High Wycombe' The main gate area has been re-configured since a resigned from the ROC in 1971. Also if you look just above 'Air Command' there is a playing field containing the 'official' helcopter landing site marked with an 'H'
Reply from Dick Flute:
Hi Terry, Many thanks indeed for this information. Pure magic from my point of view. Best regards, Dick
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